Pubdate: Thu, 18 May 2006
Source: Edmonton Journal (CN AB)
Copyright: 2006 The Edmonton Journal
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/edmonton/edmontonjournal/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/134
Author: Chris Purdy, The Edmonton Journal
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

DRUG TRAFFICKERS JAILED FOR GANG-RELATED KIDNAPPING AND
EXTORTION

$60,000 Ransom Demanded To Settle Feud Over City's Drug
Trade

EDMONTON - The last of eight men arrested in a gang-related kidnapping
and extortion case have been sentenced to prison.

On Wednesday, Court of Queen's Bench Justice Eric Macklin said the
"egregious and heinous" crime erupted during a feud over the city's
drug trade.

He accepted a joint recommendation by lawyers and sentenced Colin
Struth, 30, to six years on a charge of kidnapping with a firearm.

Justin Davis, 22, pleaded guilty to unlawful confinement and
obstructing justice.

Macklin sentenced him to two years.

The pair were associates of the Crazy Dragon Killers gang, which is
extensively involved in cocaine trafficking through the use of
"dial-a-dopers," said Crown prosecutor Michelle Doyle.

She said the group planned the kidnapping to demand ransom or
compensation from the rival White Boy Posse, who were interfering with
the Killers' trafficking business by ramming cars of their
dial-a-dopers.

In October 2004, two men were grabbed from a Devon home and used to
lure a high-ranking Posse member, Ryan Brodie, to an Edmonton
apartment, said Doyle.

A 13-year-old babysitter and two infants were confined in a bedroom as
Brodie and the others were beaten. Some were stripped down to their
underwear, pepper-sprayed, tied up and blindfolded.

The babysitter was forced to write her name and address on a piece of
paper, then given $360 to keep silent.

The Killers tried to negotiate a $60,000 ransom for Brodie by
threatening to cut off his fingers with a cleaver.

Police later arrested several suspects at the Rest E-Z Motel on Stony
Plain Road.

Over the next five months, investigators intercepted hundreds of phone
calls from the Edmonton Remand Centre aimed at convincing the victims
to recant their statements to police.

Two men considered the instigators of the crime were sentenced in the
case last year.

Tavis MacKinnon, 22, was handed eight years in prison for kidnapping
with a firearm.

David Tran, 21, received six years for the same offence. 
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